German FM to pay first official visit to Georgia this week to “further strengthen ties”
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Annalena Baerbock, the German Foreign Minister, will pay her first official visit to Georgia on Thursday to “further strengthen bilateral” ties and discuss the country’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations and related reforms with the country’s top officials, the German Embassy to Georgia announced on Wednesday.
The German FM is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, President Salome Zourabichvili and her Georgian counterpart Ilia Darchiashvili while in Tbilisi through Friday.
The meetings will focus on German support for Georgia's rapprochement with the European Union and NATO, as well as respective reforms, said the diplomatic mission.
The aim of the trip is to promote a close and direct exchange between the two countries and to deepen an excellent cooperation for Georgia's European future”, it added.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said the FMs would hold face-to-face meetings, followed by a meeting between the countries’ delegations and joint statements of the ministers for the media.
Baerbock will also meet the domestic opposition, civil sector and students before visiting the Administrative Boundary Line separating central Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region from the rest of the country.
The European Union Monitoring Mission - the only foreign mission in Georgia observing activities adjacent to the Russian-occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali - will accompany the German official at the location. Germany is the largest contributor of observers in the Mission.